Vostok+Ice+Core+2

= Vostok Ice Cores = In 2003, the deepest ice core was drilled at Vostok station. It is distinctive because of its immense depth and its unique location. The Vostok ice core is located on a slope, instead of at the summit glacier. This made it much more difficult to interpret the data correctly because over time, some of the ice from above melted and mixed with deeper levels of ice. The ice core revealed the past 4 glacial cycles and reached back almost 420,000 years. The drilling stopped just shy of a layer of water and bedrock, then named Lake Vostok. Currently, Scientists are planning on drilling further into the lake to collect samples. This will hopefully uncover different organisms and surroundings from over 420,000 years ago. Did You Know? - Ice cores are determined by counting the layers in the ice? - The deeper the ice core the older the sample? - The Vostok ice core has a lake underneath it? - The Vostok ice core is the deepest ice core drilled currently? - The Vostok ice core reveals the past 4 glacial cycles? - Ice cores can determine major events like: o Volcanic Eruptions o Precipitation Levels o Ice Ages o Climate Changes o Sea Surface Productivity o Atmosphere’s Chemical Makeup o Forest Fires o Solar Variability ***Picture 1: 19 cm long section of GISP 2 ice core from 1855 m showing annual layer structure illuminated from below by a fiber optic source. Section contains 11 annual layers with summer layers (arrowed) sandwiched between darker winter layers. (caption by wikipedia, picture from []  ) Ice Core: [] Vostok Station: [] Glacial Cycles: [|http://www.homepage.montana.edu/~geol445/hyperglac/time1/time.htm] Ice Age: : [] Sea Surface Productivity: [|http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/view.php?d1=MOD17A2_M_PSN&d2=MYD28M#] Volcanic Eruptions: “volcanic eruption events” by Maria Butkov (wikispaces page) Atmosphere’s Chemical Makeup: [] Solar Variability: []